Hi codic. Hopefully you get a chance to read this.
First
I'll comment on the C/C++ thing :-) I'll be the first to
admit that I know C better than I know C++, but I feel that
I am a fairly competent C++ coder and am comfortable writing
from a C++-mindset (as opposed to a C-mindset). Feel free
to
quiz me about C++. I'm actually in the middle of a C++
project (the xbattle stuff that I mention in my diary). I
could send you code if you are interested...

Concerning the rating system, one of the points that I
tried
to get across in my diary entry is that I don't think that
Advogato's rating system is set up to handle a negative
rating. EBay can deal with a negative rating because of the
way in which people are allowed to rate each other.

codic said: I also feel that a rating system that allowed negative
ratings would be most effective if
everyone could rate users, but the weighting of a
user's rating (I can't help but notice that
that rhymes) should be proportional to their status
(i.e., a rating coming from a Master should
mean much more than a rating coming from an
Outcast).

I would have to diagree. If I'm not mistaken, this was
exactly the case when Advogato brought in the Dimwit
rating. A Master could demote an Observer with one click,
but a whole swarm of Observers couldn't touch a Master's
rating.

By only allowing positive ratings, one encourages people
to
value their account---switching to a new account wouldn't do
anything productive. If one wants to create a real
"community," an important thing is to make people value
their accounts. The "community" can become very artificial
if people frequently change accounts to avoid negative
ratings.